Media

John considered the metaphysical question taken up by the media deep thinkers this week in “Caravan? What caravan?” The “caravan,” of course, is the all too real trainload of would-be illegal immigrants seeking to invade the United States through its southern border. The New York Times continues to pursue the metaphysical question in its own peculiar way. Today’s good news is that President Trump has faced down the caravan. AFP »

Dan Rather has soldiered on since Rathergate. He has persisted in the face of professional disgrace. Indeed, he has retracted apologies previously offered for the fakery that ended his storied career with CBS News. He rendered the apologies with his fingers crossed behind his back. He didn’t mean them. In his 2012 memoir Rather Outspoken, Rather stands by the underlying Rathergate story and the fabricated documents on which it was »

I will guest host Laura Ingraham’s radio show tomorrow, Thursday and Friday. The show runs live from 9:00 a.m. to 12 p.m. Eastern, and is heard at other times in some geographies. Tomorrow’s show will feature stellar guests, including Howie Carr and Dennis Prager. Howie’s appearance will be a fun turnabout, as I was a guest on his show this afternoon. Topics will include the Honduran caravan, President Trump’s press »

When University of Minnesota Law School Professor Richard Painter announced the formation of an exploratory committee for a possible Senate candidacy last month, I urged him to follow his heart and go for it. He is interested in the seat held by the appointed Democratic incumbent, Tina Smith. According to the Star Tribune, however, Painter is “unsure whether he would run as a Republican, Democrat or independent.” Painter found it »

Back in the Reagan years one of my favorite amusements on television was Sid and Marty Krofft’s show “DC Follies.” Anyone remember the bar scene of puppets presided over by Fred Willard? Here’s a short reminder: I’ve always hoped for a comeback of some kind, and of all unlikely people, Ian Bremmer has started a new puppet-commentary show called Puppet Regime. There are several of varying length on YouTube. Here’s »

I don’t believe we have commented on the kerfuffle involving Laura Ingraham and David Hogg, teenage anti-gun advocate and survivor of the Parkland school shooting. As most of our readers are probably aware, Ingraham came under fire for poking fun at Hogg after he talked about his rejection by certain colleges he applied to. Hogg disclosed that he had been rejected by UCLA and a few other institutions. Ingraham then »

Jim Acosta is the grandstanding clown who covers the White House for CNN. As Brandon Morse at RedState puts it, Acosta “tends to inject his opinion into his reporting, and squabbles with Press Secretary Sarah Sanders over what he thinks are hard questions but are really just partisan talking points.” Acosta is probably best known to Power Line readers for being trounced by Stephen Miller when he invoked the words »

Last week one could feel the tremors of excitement in the latest Trump campaign/Russia collusion stories coming out of the Mueller investigation. According to these stories, a Trump campaign adviser had repeated communications during the final weeks of the 2016 presidential race with a business associate tied to Russian intelligence, according to a sentencing memo filed by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. In this post I am borrowing from a summary »

The Washington Post accelerates its race to the bottom by publishing an article by Sydney Leathers. Yeah, that Sydney Leathers — the woman who sexted with Anthony Weiner when he was running for mayor of New York. In the paper edition, the article is called “I know what Stormy Daniels is facing: Sydney Leathers on the pain that comes with challenging the powerful.” It consists of non-stop whining about the »

We have had family in town this past week. Yesterday I gave my South American nephew the tour of the Twin Cities that I sketched out in “Welcome to the Twin Cities!” My current version of the tour begins at the beautifully restored state capitol building in St. Paul and ends in Little Mogadishu on the other side of the river in Minneapolis. As we started out yesterday, my relative »

One would have to be a moron not to understand that the Hamas “March of Return” from Gaza to Israel is a variation on a theme. The theme is set forth in its original “Covenant” of 1988 calling for “the liberation of Palestine” (i.e., Israel’s destruction) in the “struggle against Zionism.” (The 2010 revision is, shall we say, subject to interpretation.) Subtlety is not a Hamas selling point. Yet the »

On March 18 C-SPAN 3 revisited the Vietnam War with a focus on 1968 in a discussion with Washington Post editor David Maraniss and man of many parts Jim Webb moderated by Steve Scully. It is the first part of the nine-part C-SPAN series 1968: America in Turmoil. C-SPAN has posted the video here along with the usual accessories. I have embedded it below. The contrast of Maraniss with Webb »

I had thought that the New York Review of Books took the prize for the most gobsmacking correction for this item related to its recent hit piece on Jordan Peterson: Of course, this mistake is understandable at the NYRB, as they always hoped that Solzhenitsyn’s revelations about the character of the Soviet Union were fiction. But then there’s this from the Wall Street Journal today: With all of the talk »

In 1747 Samuel Johnson announced the plan to write what became his Dictionary of the English Language. Johnson had hoped to get the job done in three years. His friend Richard Adams questioned his ability to complete such a massive undertaking in such a short time. It had taken the 40 members of the French Academy 40 years to compile their Dictionary, Adams reminded him. Boswell reported Johnson’s famous response: »

Paul passed on seven observations on the “March for our lives.” Having slept on it for a couple of nights, I have seven seven personal reactions to offer as a counterpart. 1. I hate being lectured. 2. I hate being lectured in a tone of moral superiority. 3. I hate being lectured by preening ignoramuses. 4. I hate being lectured by teenagers who know next to nothing and who demand »

Amy Klobuchar plays Minnesota Nice in public with her constituents and in the Senate with her Republican colleagues. Indeed, some of her Republican colleagues in the Senate have actually fallen for her act. Working for her, however, employees see another side of the senator’s face. With employees she’s not putting on an act. The real Amy Klobuchar emerges. It’s an open secret that she is hell to work for. As »

The Star Tribune has in the past sought to compensate for walks on the wild side with columns by Katherine Kersten in ritual fashion. The ritual requires the publication of vituperative responses and incantatory letters to dispel the dread she induces among the members of Minnesota’s lunatic left. When the Star Tribune published Kathy’s “Undisciplined” this past Sunday, it followed up with two days’ of such responses. One could almost »